Heeere's Kage - with a K

[Maz]

What does your cage look like at the moment?

 

[Kage]

I've just taken this. Not very clear due to lighting but it's thr same as one I showed before after fitting the second extension.

I think Kage is under the wheel or in the corner.

 

[Kage]

I spot cleaned the right hand end this evening, but found no wetness. I still need to spot clean the extension on the right where the wheel is and that's where I think Kage is.

 

[Maz]

It can be difficult to know - he could be tunneling underground in any part of the cage.

 

[Kage]

I think he's under the wheel and tunnels along that end wall from the other corner. I know he does burrow there - I've seen him. When I do spot clean in that section, I'm sure I'll find him there but at the same time I don't want to stress him.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Looking forward to the pictures on the Eufy

 

[Maz]

One of the good things about a nightcam is you can watch live on your phone when you go to bed and when you see them out and about you can nip down and offer him something to walk into for out of cage time. However, sometimes they hide away as soon as they here you coming. So that may or may not work.

I don't think it would stress him particularly if you lifted him out into something. He might not like it initially but once he gets used to he'll be ok.

 

[Kage]

I have made my mind up to give the extension with the wheel in - and where I believe Kage to be - a spot clean tonight. Just a quick one, really I suppose to see if he's there, and what kind of reaction I get. I do need to clean, and I think this is a good enough reason to do some "finding out." You've said before about him retreating further, but really, I hardly see him as it is, so he can't surely become much more elusive.

I'll be honest, it is getting to me. I'm tired of indecision, not knowing what to do for best. So tonight will go ahead, right or wrong, and fingers crossed .

Keep yours crossed too for me, us - please.

 

[Kage]

The royal carriage awaits.

I'm trying to be clever. Hmm anyway, in the left hand extension on the right hand side you can see Kage's digging box, and to the left of that I've put a large glass jar - the Royal Carriage. I'll put something tasty in it for him tonight and see if he takes it. I can leave it there popping tasties in it each night so he gets used to going inside. It's fingers crossed again . At the moment he's outwitting me - paws down - and tbh, I don't much care for that so if cunning and bribery work... we're both happy. He gets his treats, and hopefully, we can start getting acquainted. He's got lots to look forward to if only he knew it . But there's still some way to go even if this works. What does anyone think?

 

[Maz]

It's a good idea I did something similar with our last robo. I'll show you the contraption I put in his cage! It's a bit small for a Syrian unfortunately. The thing is they are so fast they often run out before your hand gets anywhere near. Robos are incredibly fast. So my contraption was intended to increase the distance/time it took for him to get out again so I could get my hand over the end of the tube - and it worked a treat He liked going down the tube and into the pod anyway, even without treats in it - I had some bedding in it. And once he realised it was a taxi he used to go in there and be happy to be lifted out. I'd then put it down in the playpen so he could come out and use the playpen - when he'd had enough he'd go back in it.

It's a plastic pod thing (jntended to be an extension for a cage) with a tube attached. It's a 3 way tube and the top exit is blocked with a cap. So the only entrance and exit was the end of the tube. As soon as he saw my hand he would dart towards the entrance but the extra time it took to get from the pod meant he wasn't quick enough for me. Also he used to get distrated by the top block exit and investigate it, which slowed things up as well.

 

[Maz]

One thing you could try maybe - your cage has tube options doesn't it? Which presumably are capped off. What some people have done before is attach tubes leading to a playpen - so the hamster can come and go from the playpen independtly and get used to coming out.

Now for that to work it partly depends on the height of your cage and the angle of the tubes! It would mean a few tubes joined together. It's not ideal because unfortunately the tubes are on the small side for syrians, so you wouldn't be able to leave the tube section up permanently. It would need observation to make sure he doesn't get stuck. Unless he's a particularly large hamster he's unlikely to get stuck if it's a straight run. Unless you could make the hole bigger and attach rat tubes (but that would take some engineering!).

 

[Kage]

One thing you could try maybe - your cage has tube options doesn't it? Which presumably are capped off. What some people have done before is attach tubes leading to a playpen - so the hamster can come and go from the playpen independtly and get used to coming out.

Now for that to work it partly depends on the height of your cage and the angle of the tubes! It would mean a few tubes joined together. It's not ideal because unfortunately the tubes are on the small side for syrians, so you wouldn't be able to leave the tube section up permanently. It would need observation to make sure he doesn't get stuck. Unless he's a particularly large hamster he's unlikely to get stuck if it's a straight run. Unless you could make the hole bigger and attach rat tubes (but that would take some engineering

I was actually looking at that idea just last night. But the problem is the enclosure is sat 2 1/2 above the floor in the recess next to the chimney breast, and the play pen would need to be on the floor in front of the fireplace unless I raised it on a platform to be level with the seat of the armchair to level off the remaining distance of 2 1/2 - 3 feet. I have the materials to do that.
.
I could attach, I don't know, a flexible tube or something to the enclosure door in the middle and run it down to the armchair. The would be about 3 feet away and the drop would be about 1 1/2 feet. Then it would need to bend at right angles to the play pen.

Would the drop of 1 1/2 feet be too steep for him if it was ribbed in some way to help get a grip?

I know hamsters can travel large distances. I don't suppose the journey from his enclosure to the playpen would worry him too much. It's quite a task for to undertake, but you know, I'm willing to give it some serious thought, and I'm sure it's something I'm capable of doing.

Here is the play pen I made for him. As it is, it's about 33 inches by 17 inches, not the biggest but it would give him out of cage time whenever he wanted

 

[Maz]

It looks good I have thought of using one of those stretchy extendable tubes before, but I think the risk is fitting it in a door with gaps around it as the hamster could escape. It's difficult isn't it? 2.5 feet is what? About 70cm? It maybe is a bit of a steep slope from there. Not impossible - a hamster could climb it I reckon. It's mainly how to securely attach something. You could try the attachable tubes maybe? But it could work out expensive. The problem there is if you had to observe he wouldn't use it when you wanted him to!

 

[Maz]

Here's an interesting idea! It looks like a lot of work. I'm not sure how safe it would be with mesh, personally, as the hamster could climb the mesh and drop but it might give some ideas!

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[Kage]

The trouble is, when I get an idea into my head, and I like it... I very much get the feeling there's going to me some rearranging of furniture in the living room. Oh 'eck!I suppose I could raise the platform higher to make it level with the enclosure. My bookcase would have to go elsewhere so I could move my armchair further away from the enclosure and put the platform with the playpen in front of the enclosure. In fact why don't I just move out and live in the bloomin' shed? (I cleaned that up btw) It'd be far easier

Doing that - not moving out I don't mean - would make it less of a trek for His Fluffiness, and a little less headache for yours truly. I could make the platform with folding legs for easy storage and put it all up at night after feeding time and take it down again in the morning.

What have I been talked into? And all because he won't come out and play with me It really is a good job I love him

 

[Maz]

If you could make a permanent piece of perspex eg, to fit inside one of the doors, with a hole in to secure a bendy tube, that might work - the tricky bit is making sure it's securely connected and can't be pushed out or chewed. (Those bendy tubes are chewable).

You can get straight and curved rat sized tubes - I have some of these - it gets expensive as they're not cheap! If you could find a way to secure it at the top.

Ferplast rat tube 1

Ferplast rat tube 2

Without the chains obviously. They all just fit together.

 

[Maz]

The trouble is, when I get an idea into my head, and I like it... I very much get the feeling there's going to me some rearranging of furniture in the living room. Oh 'eck!I suppose I could raise the platform higher to make it level with the enclosure. My bookcase would have to go elsewhere so I could move my armchair further away from the enclosure and put the platform with the playpen in front of the enclosure. In fact why don't I just move out and live in the bloomin' shed? (I cleaned that up btw) It'd be far easier

Doing that - not moving out I don't mean - would make it less of a trek for His Fluffiness, and a little less headache for yours truly. I could make the platform with folding legs for easy storage and put it all up at night after feeding time and take it down again in the morning.

What have I been talked into? And all because he won't come out and play with me It really is a good job I love him

Been there, got the t-shirt We rearranged our whole room and furniture to fit our first hamster cage in - it was actually quite creative! I ended up with more space in the room and more storage as well! I got rid of a large side table with storage and got a tall wall unit with shelves instead.

The solution on that video I think would be better/safer if it was perspex instead of mesh front and back and the ramps were less steep. But tubes are probably easier. If they can be fixed securely at the cage end.

 

[Kage]

Been there, got the t-shirt We rearranged our whole room and furniture to fit our first hamster cage in - it was actually quite creative! I ended up with more space in the room and more storage as well! I got rid of a large side table with storage and got a tall wall unit with shelves instead.

The solution on that video I think would be better/safer if it was perspex instead of mesh front and back and the ramps were less steep. But tubes are probably easier. If they can be fixed securely at the cage end.

I watched the video. I agree the ramp was steep and a little tricky for the hamster, I thought. I think the raised platform with, oh, I'm not sure yet, but some way for Kage to get from his enclosure to the playpen easily, safely and securely will do nicely. The rat tubes look promising though.

 

[Kage]

Well, that's the furniture moved. Next step, making the platform. I made the one for the cage to stand on, turned it into a cupboard and that's still standing!

I have a piece of spare drainpipe doing nothing. 3 inches diameter, just right for the bridge between the enclosure and the play pen. I'll only need about 18 inches. It will slope a little so perhaps I can stick some sandpaper to the bottom inside to give Kage grip. I'll worry about how to fix it when the platform is ready.

When I made my mind up to have a hamster... never in my wildest dreams did I imagine what was in store for me. Still, even if I don't get to see him, he certainly keeps me busy.

Mind you, when Chhaya was here, and by Westie, Rosie, I did everything I could to make them comfortable. But then, we do for our animals, don't we?

 

[Socks' Mum]

Lovely, well done. I like the idea of the drain pipe being the play pen highway Once they get out into the playpen, they get hooked on it.